TotalEnergies plays for time in gas in Russia
[ad_1]
It was in December 2017, north of the Yamal Peninsula, in Siberia. That day, Patrick Pouyanné, CEO of TotalEnergies, inaugurated a gas liquefaction plant in the Arctic. The hydrocarbon giant was then at the height of a long privileged relationship with Russia. It had, moreover, been consecrated by Vladimir Putin, a few days earlier, in Saint Petersburg, during the christening of the company’s first LNG carrier, the Christophe de Margerie, named after the former boss, who died in a plane crash in 2014.
A few years later, change of scenery. The war in Ukraine is dragging on, the main hydrocarbon groups (BP, Shell and Equinor, in particular) have long since expressed their desire to leave Russia. But TotalEnergies is struggling to give up. And play the clock to stay.
Admittedly, in March, and given the European sanctions that will hit Russian black gold at the end of 2022, the group’s management confirmed that it would stop importing oil and petroleum products by the end of the year. . She also stressed that she would carry out a “gradual suspension of its activities”, but without setting a specific date. Brussels’ decision to wait until 2027 to apply an embargo on Russian gas also allows TotalEnergies to temporize and justify its presence there, while implicitly shifting responsibility to political leaders.
Because TotalEnergies in Russia is essentially gas. In 2021, the latter accounted for 85% of its hydrocarbon production in this country. The French group holds interests in two gas fields. He also owns 19.4% of the capital of the Russian company Novatek (also his partner in two liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant projects), which is partly owned by two oligarchs close to Putin, Leonid Mikhelson (24%). , the founding president of the group, and Gennadi Timtchenko (23%), targeted by Western sanctions.
The second largest LNG supplier in the European Union
If the French multinational invokes “its position as a minority shareholder” to deny any operational role, it nevertheless reaps the fruits of the sales of Yamal LNG (LNG is the acronym for LNG, in English), held mainly by Novatek. With a capacity of 17.4 million tonnes (Mt) per year, this liquefaction plant continues to export its LNG at high prices. “Many LNG carriers depart from the site, confirms Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega, director of the energy and climate center of the French Institute of International Relations. Ships are observed heading north towards China, but as winter approaches, they will head more towards Europe. »
You have 53.29% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.
[ad_2]
Source link
